hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source, police in the uk and us are investigating sexual assault claims against harvey weinstein. this man is at the top of a very particular iceberg. i do think you can describe him asa iceberg. i do think you can describe him as a sex addict, he's a predator. this north american couple have been released by the afghan taliban and after being held for five years. donald trump spoke after the news. pakistani governments corporation —— is a sign that it is honouring the american wish that it do more to provide security in the region. donald trump is also threatening to pull back relief workers from puerto rico as 83% of the island remained without power. eight —— the deadly fires in canada, which has destroyed neighbourhoods and we report from vietnam ice has

experienced the worst flooding in the history of the country. —— which has experienced. there are a number of updates in the harvey weinstein scandal. police in the us and uk have launched an investigation into allegations against him, including allegations of nonconsensual sex which are unequivocally denied by him. and we know that the number of accusers has grown to more than 30 actresses, including kate beckinsale. more people have been speaking about his behaviour. here is emma thompson with the bbc‘s emily maitlis. behaviour. here is emma thompson with the bbc's emily maitlisli didn't with the bbc's emily maitlis.|i didn't know about these things but it didn't surprise me at all they are endemic in the system. what i find extraordinary is that this man is at the top of a very particular

iceberg. i don't think you can describe him as a sex addict, he's a predator. but what he is at the top of the ladder of is a system of harassment, belittling and bullying and interference and what my mother would have referred to in the olden days as pestering. another actress speaking out has beenjane fonda. she was interviewed for the bbc hard talk programme and said she found out about harvey weinstein‘s behaviour last year and now regrets not speaking out. why do they talk about it? because he's powerful because they are scared. who are the women he preyed on and praise on? young women. most of these women we re young women. most of these women were in their 20s when it happened, vulnerable, afraid if they say anything or do anything that it will ruin their career. i found anything or do anything that it will ruin their career. ifound out anything or do anything that it will ruin their career. i found out about him abouta ruin their career. i found out about him about a year ago and i wish i

had spoken out. why didn't you?m didn't happen to me. i understand that. i didn't want to expose and i admiti that. i didn't want to expose and i admit i should have been braver. and from now on i will be when i hear such stories. i will speak to nick brya nt such stories. i will speak to nick bryant in new york for more details than a few minutes. but i also want to tell you about the north american family that has been held hostage by the afghan taliban for five years and which, today has been released. the pakistani military freed joshua boyle, who is canadian, and caitlin coleman, who is american, along with their three children, all of whom we re their three children, all of whom were born in captivity. the couple we re were born in captivity. the couple were kidnapped back in 2012 in december last year this video was released —— and in december. december last year this video was released -- and in december. to whichever state department official has to watch this video, we know the president will not see it all the incoming president, and that the decision probably lies with you.

there is no point explaining that to oui’ there is no point explaining that to our captors and i'm sure you think my family could get out of this if we wa nted my family could get out of this if we wanted and i can only promise you that we can't. the rescue took place in the semi—autonomous tribal belt against the border with afghanistan. president trump spoke after the release had been announced. the pakistani government's cooperation isa sign pakistani government's cooperation is a sign that it is honouring american‘s wish that it do more to provide security in the region, and i want to thank the pakistani government. i want to thank pakistan. they worked very hard on this and i believe they are starting to respect to the united states again. there are lots of different reports about the release. this is jennifer griffin, a correspondent with fox news who said a us official told there was no military operation involved the release. i have been

speaking to gary 0'donoghue in the bbc newsroom in washington to find out what we can say with any certainty about what happened. the only thing we really know for certain is that it was a an american intelligence service that spotted the movement of the hostages, that as they crossed into pakistan itself that the americans told the pakistani ‘s about this and that they intercepted what we think were moving vehicles, and they somehow got the five hostages and managed to liberate them. beyond that, we don't really know. there was a report suggesting that american commandos, they were handed over to them, suggesting perhaps there was some military availability nearby. but no one has confirmed any of that. and the latest and most likely bizarre twist to this is that we understand thatjoshua boyle

twist to this is that we understand that joshua boyle is twist to this is that we understand thatjoshua boyle is refusing to get ona thatjoshua boyle is refusing to get on a plane to fly to the united states. we a re on a plane to fly to the united states. we are not exactly sure what his concerns are but he has an interesting background in that he was married to a woman whose brother was married to a woman whose brother was in guantanamo bay for ten years. do we know where they are? we think they are still in pakistan but we don't have any idea. there was one of those big hercules transporter planes due to fly them out but the last thing we heard is that he was refusing to get on it. this could all be nothing in the sense that you knows what five years of captivity does to yourjudgment? you might wa nt to does to yourjudgment? you might want to wait and draw breath. we are waiting for some developments. it was interesting to hear that donald trump wanted this to happen now. he was very clear and he made a blistering speech in which he

absolutely slammed pakistan for not cooperating, for harbouring terrorists on its territory, for its intelligence services are being too close to the taliban complaints that the american administrations have had for years. he put them on notice. and he's claiming today explicitly that it is the tough talk that has produced this outcome and he said that countries like pakistan 110w he said that countries like pakistan now respect us because of the way we are conducting our business. from washington to brussels because round five of the brexit negotiations have finished and as usual we had some different assessments. 0ne finished and as usual we had some different assessments. one of the main sticking points seems to be how much the uk will pay to relieve itself of ongoing financial commitments to the eu, the so—called divorce bill. first of all, here is michel barnier. we can find ourselves to technical discussions. useful discussions, but technical discussions. so on this question we

have reached a state of deadlock which is very disturbing for thousands of project promoters in europe and it is disturbing also for taxpayers. the eu has always said it will not talk about any future trading relationship with the uk until the certain immediate issues are resolved. michel barnier confirmed he would not be recommending to the eu that those further conversations begin. that is not a surprise, by the way. next, here is david davis, who is leading the uk negotiating team. our aim is to provide as much certainty as possible to business, citizens and the european union. and on this we are making real and tangible progress. i make no secret of the fa ct progress. i make no secret of the fact that to provide certainty we must talk about the future. the prime minister's speech set out the scale of the ambition of our partnership in the european union and laid out a case for a simple,

clear and time period of a meditation on the current terms. as isaid meditation on the current terms. as i said when i stood here last time, i hope the leaders of the 27 will provide michel barnier with the means to provide ways forward to explore that with this. let's speak to ben wright who is live in westminster. an intriguing day. what did you make of it? if there was progress it was fairly imperceptible, once again. warm words from both sides and yet clearly there are big differences between them on the key brexit divorce issues. frustration in the uk is that they feel that with theresa may's florent speech, that the uk would honourfinancial commitments made as a member for the two years after the uk left, which we think would be about 18 billion euros, they hope that would be

enough to unlock phase two of the negotiations, talking about the future negotiations between the eu and the uk, but once again the eu is holding firm and michel barnier says that the two sets of talks cannot be mixed up and that has to be proper progress on the terms of the divorce before there can be any discussion about the future relationship. the two sides, as michel barnier said, are deadlocked on those issues. two sides, as michel barnier said, are deadlocked on those issuesm one of the issues that michel barnier has strict instructions from the 27 eu members, and david davis is boxed in by political domestic concerns. the concern is that they feel that the mandate that michel barnier has been given to negotiate by the european leaders because he is working for them, the council, is too narrow and too inflexible and does not make much sense, particularly on the northern ireland question. two separate future relationship talks from the divorce settlement. michel barnier is

unbending, and so that will be discussed in the october meeting next week in the european council. it is clearly not going to be opening up the phase two talks in the way that the uk hoped a few weeks ago. that is michel barnier working in the eu, and you are right, in the uk there is a whole complex layer of domestic political considerations that theresa may and david davis have, in particular, pressure this week and the uk to beef up its threat to walk away from the table if the uk is not happy with the way the talks are going. brexit enthusiasts are urging theresa may and philip hammond to commit money to the possibility of there being a no deal scenario, to really prove that this is something

the uk are willing to consider. it feels like these negotiations are getting to a critical moment and it will play out in the next two or three months in a way that will determine whether they continue or breakdown. ben, thank you. we will be in brussels next week for the latest european union summit. going back to the lead story, the ever evolving scandal around harvey weinstein. nick bryant is covering this from new york. we have seen that it has been a day of yet more developments. yes. not least the new york police department, the famed nypd announcing it is reviewing an alleged sexual assault by harvey weinstein from 2004 that took place not far away from me, entry back —— in tribeca. a young actress claims

harvey weinstein forced her to perform a sex act. the new york police department are also calling for other women to come forward if they have information and if there are allegations to make themselves. 0n the other side, in london, the metropolitan police say they are looking into an allegation of sexual assault that stems from the 19805 and it a55ault that stems from the 19805 and it is believed to have happened in london. 0n and it is believed to have happened in london. on both sides of the atla ntic in london. on both sides of the atlantic police are looking into alleged sexual offences. why did the new york police not pursue this further at the time? a lot of people asking this here. that is because in 2015 somebody approached the nypd and wired her, she went to a hotel, 5he and wired her, she went to a hotel, she got harvey weinstein on tape

seemingly admitting to groping her but the district attorney here has 5aid but the district attorney here has said that there simply wasn't enough evidence to mount a prosecution. but one thing worth pointing out is that this is a very big democratic city and harvey weinstein has been a big democratic fundrai5er and harvey weinstein has been a big democratic fundraiser and there is a 5u5picion democratic fundraiser and there is a suspicion that that might have shielded him from clo5er 5crutiny. it's also worth saying that his political friends are ostraci5ing him. many of his movie friends are ostraci5ing him and he finds himself an increasingly isolated figure. reports tonight he is in a rehab facility in arizona a5 reports tonight he is in a rehab facility in arizona as the police investigations begin to roll. in a few minutes on the programme, could the future of fashion be free of fur? we know that gucci will be because they announced it today. legislation will be published which

will require the regulator, 0fgem to impo5e will require the regulator, 0fgem to impose a temporary limit for those on standard variable tariffs. the energy secretary told the commons than to many consumers were getting a bad deal. our goal is to ensure a fair deal, so the market currently has not delivered this and that is why the energy companies and 0fgem need to act and it's also precisely for this reason that we are publishing this draft bill today. i have invited the select committee to scrutinise the draft bill which provides for a price cap for domestic consumers on standard variable tariffs and default tariffs. this cap will be temporary and set by the independent energy regulator, 0fgem and it will initially la5t regulator, 0fgem and it will initially last until the end of 2020

with the potential to be extended by up with the potential to be extended by up to three years if needed. we are live on the bbc newsroom. the lead story is that police in the us and uk are investigating sexual a55ault claims against a hollywood producer harvey weinstein. we can look at some of the main stories. donald trump i5 look at some of the main stories. donald trump is due to announce whether he will continue to certify the iran nuclear deal. bbc persia report5 the iran nuclear deal. bbc persia reports that the parliamentary leader is not anxious about the decision but i don't suppose he would tell as if he were. the philippine president accused the eu of interfering after a western delegation criticised his violent war on drugs. a5 is his style, he did so in a speech laced with expletive5. that is on the world service radio. another day this

would be a lead story. the us and israel up pulling out of the cultural organisation unesco both alleging an anti—israel bia5. unesco declared the old city of hebron earlier this year a palestinian world heritage site. let's learn about more trouble for the credit reporting company acquier fax. —— equifax. it was subjected to a hacking attack the compromise the data of millions of users. now an independent security analyst has found that part of their website was under the control of attackers who we re under the control of attackers who were trying to trick vi5itors into installing fraudulent updates that could infect their computers with malware. let's find out about it from new york. let me understand here. it's getting complicated. it

loses control of its website and it 5ound5 loses control of its website and it sounds like it has lost control of its business. it has lost control of pretty much everything to do with equifax. you sort of thing, can this company catch a break? will it favour —— ever be able to rebuild its reputation? it is part of the —— equifax website that has been taken down, and what equifax are saying is that they are using an abundance of caution in regard to this, which is why you take on the site down. it come5 why you take on the site down. it comes on the heels of a massive hack where 145 comes on the heels of a massive hack where145 million'5 people information was compromise. so who should be worried mo5t watching this around the world ? should be worried mo5t watching this around the world? there are a lot of people whose information has been compromise. it is people whose information has been compromise. it i5145 million americans and there are some canadian5 americans and there are some

ca nadian5 whose information americans and there are some canadian5 whose information has been compromised. this is very significant. thank you very much for the update. loff an5wer significant. thank you very much for the update. loff answer the german airline will buy part5 the update. loff answer the german airline will buy parts of the fair pale berlin bu5ine55 airline will buy parts of the fair pale berlin business and will play $250 million that includes a leisure si —— airline —— bacca temporary. it went bankrupt in august after a decade of financial trouble. it will report it to the european union competition authorities and it was a big story were macabre —— covering the german —— german elections. gucci will go further free next year and auction off all of its remaining animalfur items. and auction off all of its remaining animal fur items. here and auction off all of its remaining animalfur items. here is our fashion expert on what drove the decision. gucci is a $5 billion turnover bu5iness. decision. gucci is a $5 billion turnover business. so this will be quite a small wave in that ocean but

it's an important one but it is sympathetic to the italian roots of gucci, so it was a big surprise because one of the great novels is at the last couple of seasons in the fashion world has been a $1000 pair of fur lined slippers by gucci. clearly not the most essential garment in the world but it got a lot of attention on social media and got a lot of copy. after that rise in interest, to make this announcement has been interesting. there was a practical need for further there is not any more. it is just for athletic desire that why gucci are saying, this no longer fits in with our brand values. a new study on blindness, and we are told that the number of blind people in the world will triple by 2050 and there are simple reasons for this. there will be more of us and we all longer. right now the number of blind or visually impaired people is

around the 250 million mark and we also know 55% of those people are women and we will find out why in a moment. let me show you a couple of simple examples of the consequences of poor side. there is the logo as it would appear to summary with healthy eyes —— paul sykes. this is what it would look like if you had ca ta ra cts . what it would look like if you had cataracts. cataracts needed to be treated with surgery. this is called refractive error, a common cause poor sight and that can be addressed with glasses. here is one expert on the progress being made to get more glasses to more people. for most of the people with poor vision, all they need is a perin glasses, as i have. this technology has existed for 700 years. with glasses it is getting cheaper and cheaper but it is the processing between unique distribution issues to be able to

crush the cost and what we see today are these smartphone apps where you can do the screening using an app and you have other technologies coming across like drones. in countries which have broken —— bad road countries which have broken —— bad roa d syste m5 countries which have broken —— bad road systems you can use delivery drones to deliver the glasses and other eye care supplies. let's speak to clare gilbert, a professor of eye health. i was surprised about the statistic showing more women are blind than men. why is that? there are two main reasons. cataracts, which are referred to, it is also age—related macular degeneration of the back of the eye. those are more common in women and the reasons that are fully understood. women are also less likely to access services in low—income settings and there is a

lot of evidence that. presumably the kind of services you need to treat ca ta ra cts kind of services you need to treat cataracts a re kind of services you need to treat cataracts are particularly expensive. not necessarily. it's now an operation that takes ten minutes and you can put a little plastic lens inside the eye and they are mass produced for a few dollars and the actual cost of cataract surgery is coming down, and the more you do, the higher the volume, the less it isa the higher the volume, the less it is a cataract operation needed. it should be very affordable to a high percentage of the population and they would need to have free surgery but many people in the population can but many people in the population ca n afford but many people in the population can afford it. what are the main obstacles can afford it. what are the main o bsta cles to can afford it. what are the main obstacles to more people having access to what sounds like a cheap treatment? you have to think about it from two sides. the provider side. not enough services in rural areas and there are are perhaps long distances to get to the hospital and many of these people are elderly and don't have anyone to accompany them. that is one side. but on the other

side there is a belief that as you get older your hair grows white and your pupils grow white and it's accepted as a part of ageing. there are both those sides of the equation. would it be appropriate to make a parallel between the increased awareness of dementia and occurrences as we all live longer and what we are seeing with eyesight? is it a direct consequence of health care extending our lives? yes, basically. we are all living longer and age—related conditions across the whole spectrum will increase dramatically. an interesting fact is that around now is the first time in human history that there are more people aged over 65 than there are children under five. the number of people who are blind could triple between now and 2050. what could you recommend, if

you could do something to lower the figure? what would make the difference? we have do increase services which means training more people and providing services nearer where that population lives. in many parts of the world, the main providers of services are in the urban areas. where as most of the population still live in rural areas and there is a big mismatch. somehow the ministries of health need to tackle that. so more people and better distribution. thank you for coming to see us. that is professor clare gilbert. thank you for watching the first half of the programme. we will be back in a couple of minutes with more of the most important stories from around the world. if you want to get in touch contacts on the screen. we will see you in a minute. california wildfires, torrential

rain in north vietnam and also the 50th storm of the hurricane season coming up in the next three minutes. this latest image from noah shows the red areas of the significant wildfires burning in california and the poor visibility that we still have got and the poor air quality as well. things are set to change as we go into the weekend with high building but more importantly that will bring with it a change of wind direction, north—easterly wind and a dryer, warm sauce into the weekend, and that could have an impact. it will also be gusting in excess of 40 miles an hourand will also be gusting in excess of 40 miles an hour and it's not great news for the firefighters trying to get a news for the firefighters trying to geta grip news for the firefighters trying to get a grip on the significant wildfires. we have that change of wind direction across the california coastline. elsewhere, a good deal of dry weather across north america with gusty winds and heavy rain in southern california and a scattering

of showers across the east coast, but the weather situation is relatively quiet through north america. somewhere where we have seen significant weather of late is across north vietnam's. we have seen dreadful scenes and loss of life as heavy rain has ravaged through northern and central areas of vietnam. you can see the mass of angry looking cloud. i need to draw your attention to what is happening on the northern philippines. a tropical depression which might strengthen to a tropical storm and maybe even stronger as it continues to track across the waters. by the end of the weekend it could move to vietnam and the flood ravaged areas, so we need to keep a close eye on that. this is hurricane mafileo. the 15th named storm of the hurricane

season. it looks like it will travel ina season. it looks like it will travel in a north east direction —— 0phelia. it looks like it will go to the south and east of the azores and then we expect it to weaken considerably but we need to keep a close eye on it. there is a level of uncertainty as to attract the storm is likely to take and the influence it's likely to have across western europe and over to the uk. but as we move through the weekend, sunday to monday, it could bring heavy wayne -- rain monday, it could bring heavy wayne —— rain and strong winds into the uk. to the east of that we have warm air with temperatures across central pa rt air with temperatures across central part of iberia which could be 8 degrees above average for the time of year and some of that warmth will be drawing its way across to the southern half of the uk, 2223 degrees not out of the question. —— 22 or 23. hello. police in the uk and the us are now investigating sexual assault claims against harvey weinstein.

this man is at the top of a very particular iceberg. i don't think you can describe him as a sex addict, he is a predator. this north american couple has been released by the taliban after being held for five years. donald trump spoke after the release. the pakistani government's co—operation is a sign that it government's co—operation is a sign thatitis government's co—operation is a sign that it is honouring america's wish that it is honouring america's wish that it is honouring america's wish that it do more to provide security in the region. we will also bring you up